Former gang leader denies raping 13-year-old; claims witnesses have an axe to grind with him

A 25-year-old gang leader who is embroiled in a court case for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl on four occasions, has denied ever touching the alleged victim and claims that the allegations are a ploy by his old gang members who are trying to gang up on him.

The defendant Koh Rong Guang, is accused of committing the alleged rapes between November 2013 and January 2014 and faces a whopping twelve charges and is contesting all charges. The charges Koh faces are four charges of statutory rape, one charge of sexual assault by penetration, three charges of criminal intimidation, two charges of committing an indecent act with a young person, one of causing hurt and one of circulating a nude photo of the girl.

Earlier in the trial, the High Court heard that Koh became acquainted with the girl, now 17, through a mutual friend named Fu Yiming who was 16 at the time. Yiming was a member of a group of friends Koh led who frequently hung out at Lot 1 shopping centre and Choa Chu Kang Centre.

Deputy public prosecutors David Khoo and Sruthi Boppana said that Koh accosted the girl while the group was at a karaoke outlet at Choa Chu Kang Centre, before raping her at the staircase.

A few weeks later, Koh allegedly cornered the girl once again at the same staircase before threatening her by hitting the wall near her face with a spanner. He then allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her for the second time. Koh also allegedly forced the girl to strip before taking a photo of her in the nude which he subsequently sent to Yiming via WhatsApp.

Koh allegedly raped the girl for a third time at the staircase of Block 672A, Choa Chu Kang Crescent. The court heard that Koh contacted the girl once more on 24 Jan 2014 and asked her to meet her. Fearful, she requested Yiming to accompany her. Koh, Yiming and the girl met at the same staircase where the third alleged rape occurred and Koh supposedly threatened Yiming and the girl with a brick before assaulting Yiming.

Following this, the girl followed Koh to another floor where he allegedly raped her once again. After this, he allegedly forced the girl and Yiming to pose in a sexually explicit way and photographed the pair.

Koh subsequently sent a collage of three photos from this episode to a friend and instructed him to post the photos on Facebook. One of the photos identified the girl. The girl then made a police report against Koh as photos of her circulated online.

Testifying for the first time on the 5th day of the trial which is expected to go on for a total of 8 days, Koh asserted, “I did not touch her.”

He claims that the girl made up the allegations as she wanted to get back at him for posting photos of her in sexually explicit poses with Yiming.

Calling the girl a “stranger” and a “slut”, Koh denied taking nude photos of her and Yiming and claimed that one of the boys she had slept with had forwarded it to him. He added that he told someone else to upload the photos online, as he wanted to get back at Yiming for ratting on him to the police during investigations into a rioting case.

Koh further claimed that the girl tried to get close to Yiming even though he was in a relationship and that Koh’s own then-pregnant girlfriend, now estranged wife, confronted the girl for badmouthing Yiming’s girlfriend.

This confrontation allegedly occurred on the same day that one of the alleged rapes occurred which Koh denies ever happened. Instead, he says that his wife slapped the girl who left in tears.

Prosecutors argued that Koh used the girl as a “sex toy” and referred to text messages between Koh and Yiming, pointing out that in one text sent in the lead-up to one of the alleged incidents, Koh had told Yiming, “whatever I want (to) do to her you cannot interrupt”.

DPP Khoo further argued that Fu and two other youths had supported the girl’s testimony. Fu earlier testified that he felt helpless at being unable to stop his leader from raping the girl who was his friend.

Koh however claims that all four witnesses met and agreed to say the same thing and added, “This is what we did in the rioting case.”

If convicted for statutory rape, Koh may face a jail term of 8-20 years and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane.

By Yasmine YahyaSingapore's economic performance last year was healthy, marked by a better-than-expected expansion and encouraging productivity growth, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.He expressed...